A new program unveiled in Germany promises full, end-to-end encryption for emails sent by even the most technophobic internet users. Deutsche Telekom and the Fraunhofer research institute collaborated on the software.
German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom unveiled on Wednesday a new internet security project it has developed with the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT). The new program, available for Windows, is called Volksverschlüsselung, or "people's encryption."
The program will allow a user's computer to send encrypted email with minimal set-up and technical know-how.
Encryption gives digital communication a level of security that ensures only the sender and intended recipient are able to view the message. Even if a message passes through multiple servers between the sender and recipient, it cannot be read until it reaches the recipient. Communicating online with encrypted messages is becoming more widespread as hacker attacks are on the rise.
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The on-going battle between Apple and the FBI has brought encryption and security to the fore once again. After remaining silent on the subject for some time, President Obama -- speaking at SXSW -- said that he was opposed the idea of encryption mechanism that are so strong it prevents governmental access.
"If technologically it is possible to make an impenetrable device or system where the encryption is so strong that there is no key, there's no door at all, then how do we apprehend the child pornographer, how do we solve or disrupt a terrorist plot?" he wondered aloud, his almost rhetorical question playing neatly on two of America's biggest fears. He suggested that security keys should be made available to third parties, saying "you cannot take an absolutist view" when it comes to balancing security and privacy. But Obama has a solution: backdoors.
Obama avoided talking directly about the Apple/FBI case, but it hung heavy in the air nonetheless. So what is his solution to the issue of encryption standing in the way of government being able to access whatever it wants? The out-going president's answer to the problem is far from fleshed out, and far from being a solution that anyone in their right mind would find agreeable. Addressing the SXSW audience, he said:
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